Thomas Foden, 39, was scheduled for a probable cause hearing Tuesday, but his attorney asked that the court order an evaluation before proceedings go further.

"This is a situation where this young man has had a lifelong struggle with mental illness," said defense attorney Ed Cross. "In fact, the father said that it's with treatment he finally got his son back. His father is in his 70s, and then suddenly, he has lost his son again."

Police said that in November, Foden broke into the Merrimack home of his 66-year-old mother and beat her, slamming her face into a glass cabinet and gouging one of her eyes. She suffered a ruptured eye socket, severed ear and cuts to her head that required staples.

Prosecutors did not object to the evaluation.

"I guess it is a sensitive case in the sense that it involves some pretty significant injuries, but people raising competency happens all the time, even in your run-of-the-mill cases and your most serious cases," said prosecutor Melissa Kowalewski.

Foden had a mental health evaluation after the attack, and Cross said the doctor believed he fit the criteria to be admitted to the state hospital. He said the court authorized it, but it never happened.

"The hospital, for reasons no one knows, refused to take him," Cross said. "I am dumbfounded. I have never experienced this, and I have been doing this for 20 years."

Bob MacLeod, who heads the state hospital, said he can't talk specifically about Foden's case, but he said there are many factors involved in making such decisions.

"It's not a question of not wanting them," he said. "It's the question of where is the better venue to treat them. This hospital as well as the secure psychiatric unit are both venues that have to consider public safety."

MacLeod said officials look at a person's bail amount, consider the type of crime and often look at the suspect's psychiatric history when making their decisions.

Foden remains in the Hillsborough County Jail, where MacLeod said inmates can receive state-issued psychiatric treatment.